Abby Turns 4!

I can't believe that 4 years ago our little Abigail Kalin was born.

Abby day 1

The last 4 years have gone by so quickly!

Abby's 1st birthday

Abby's 2nd birthday

Abby's 3rd birthday

Abby today

Today we had a very fun day! First, I had my first parent teacher conference. While I was meeting with Abby's teacher Jim was home putting together Abby's birthday present from us...a big girl bed! We were lucky enough to find her beautiful bed frame on Craig's list for $70!

Next, it was off to Jump!Zone for some bounce house fun with her friend Madeline from school. The girls had a BLAST!

After bouncing it was off to lunch at the Bagel Bin.

We had so much fun with Madeline!

After lunch it was time to head home for some quiet time.

After Jim got home for work it was time for dinner...

...Abby's favorite GRILLED CHEESE!

Then, it was time for a few presents...

...and a movie (Brave, a gift from her sister) with mint chocolate chip ice cream!

First night in her big girl bed, we will see how it goes!

Our "big" girl sound asleep in her new big girl bed...

Abby is now looking forward to her Tangled birthday party on Saturday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Abby we love you so!

SNOW!

On Wednesday night of the 23rd we had a bit of snow. The public schools were delayed for 2 hours but Abby's school was running on time. I was excited to get her to school and then have a morning of fun in the snow with Kera! We got all dressed up and headed out...

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long.

I think we were outside for a total of about 10 min...I think it might of taken us longer to get dressed. It was a good idea in theory!

Jim's Birthday

Jim reached another year older on January 21st. We had a very low key weekend but on his birthday we were able to spend the day with our friends the Haffer's. It was a very nice and relaxing day. Happy birthday Papa!

Pittsburgh

On the first weekend of the new year we headed to Pittsburgh for a bit of exploring and visiting.

We are still in the process of trying to figure out where we are going to live when we grow up so, Jim wanted me to see the Burgh in the winter. On this trip we were really able to narrow down where we would want to live if we moved there. We even went in to talk to a realtor about the different tax burdens.

While we were in Pittsburgh we were able to check out the children's museum. This children's museum is well known for housing many items from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Mr. Rogers grew-up outside of Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, the girls were not in the best of moods so...our experience was not the best but, we did have a few fun moments.

Silk Screening

Rainbow Bouncy

MEOW!

Water Fun



Mr. Rogers playing Mr. Rogers

We were also able to spend some time visiting some of Jim's family; it is always such a great pleasure to see them!

Uncle Pat

VERY big bean bag!

Aunt Monna

Cousin Lizzie

Cousin Rick

Hugging Cousin Colin

Sunday it was back home. Another fun weekend in Pittsburgh!

New Years 2013

We had a VERY low key this year. Early in the evening I said, "let's let the girls stay up until whenever" but, by 9 pm we were putting them to bed. Jim and I were in bed by 10.

HAPPY PARENTAL/OLD FART NEW YEARS!

Christmas, Part 4

 On Thursday the 27th we went to Maryland Science Center in Baltimore and it was FANTASTIC! My dad kept on saying that it had the best kids area of any museum he had ever been too. Her are just a few of the pictures...

Merry Christmas Mr. Dinosaur!

Hello Mr. Dinosaur.

Playing in a dinosaur foot print

Fun with water

Our little mermaid

Laying on a bed of nails

On Friday we headed into Annapolis for the morning. Of course, the first stop was coffee...

Then, for the first time we took a look at the state capitol. Very pretty building...

 

After the capitol building it was time for a VERY chaotic lunch. We had to wait about 20 min for a table and then once we were finally in the food took forever! As you can imagine the girls...and the adults...were more than happy to get home.

On Saturday my parents headed out for some touring on their own while we had a low key day at home. The big event of the day...Abby sent Santa a thank you card.

On Sunday we all went into DC to take a look at the national tree. I am sad to say that I was VERY disappointed. I thought it was be a grand tree with amazing decorations but, this is what we saw...

BLAH!

I was also excited to see the parade of trees. There is a tree for each state and territory and again, disappointed. The only nice thing is that these trees were decorated by school aged kids but, you can tell they had a lot of restraints. Here are a few...

Nevada

Washington

Illinois

My parents headed home early on the 31st. As always we very much enjoyed their visit and are looking forward to the next time.

Christmas, Part 3

Of course the girls were thrilled on Christmas morning! Here are some pictures to prove it...

Look at all those presents!

 

"Here is your stocking Kera."

Abby always gets a fork from Santa =)

Kera got a train set from Santa.

What's in this package?

Dress-up clothes from Grandma and Grandpa

The huge pile of paper is always one of my favorite Christmas pictures!

After our traditional Christmas brunch and a bit of clean-up it was time for a family walk and of course, we found some swings.

Christmas dinner was a repeat of thanksgiving but equally delicious!

The day after Christmas Jim was back to work so what did we do...go bowling. Look at Kera's outfit choice...

Yes, that is a swimsuit over her clothes.

Abby had a lot of fun but Kera was happy to sit and watch.

Burrs was the big winner followed by Abby.

On Wednesday evening Jim and I were able to get out for a dinner alone while the girls got to stay home and played with Pepe, Burrs, and a bit more snow! They were even able to make their own VERY small snowman.

Chritsmas, part 4 is coming soon!